Eating out while losing weight?!

gaelicstorm

I lose weight while eating out 1-2 times a week. I pre-log my food according to the restaurant's nutritional data and eat 200-300 calories under my goal for that day (and lighter throughout the day--salad for lunch, yogurt for breakfast, an ounce of nuts for a snack) to adjust for their inconsistency when portioning sides out. I tend to stick to steak/seafood places and my meal is usually protein, salad with oil/vinegar, unsweetened iced tea, and then mixed vegetables. I skip the bread because I eat lower carb.

There is no reason to stop dining at restaurants when counting calories. Just make reasonable choices for the rest of the week and try to stick to places where you can get an idea about nutritional value before you set foot in the restaurant. I usually log my meal while my husband is still driving to the restaurant!

I have two school-aged kids who like burgers and so yes, we do go to places like Red Robin. Instead of getting the bacon cheeseburger on a bun with endless fries I'll get a cheeseburger wrapped in lettuce (no bun). I still do get the fries, usually sweet potato and I don't take advantage of the "endless" aspect of that. I log it the best I can and make sure that I've allowed for that bigger meal throughout the rest of the day. There are also times that my home-cooked meals don't work out as planned (have to stay later at work, food isn't thawed, electric went out, food spoiled and I didn't realize it, etc) and we've done fast food. I swap fries for a salad--that is a HUGE calorie savings because I either use vinegar on my salads or just salt/pepper. I tend to save a lot of calories for my dinner meal anyhow, so this hasn't even posed a challenge. It just might cut into my snacking for the rest of the night!